Since the idea comes from manga(SAO) and a video game in .hack’s case(if I’m not mistaken) there’s no real way to say for sure it’s a ripoff. If SAO’s story/idea began in 01-02 then it was done while the PS2 .hack game was in development unannounced to the public like Coffee said. I think originally our topic was SAO2 but somehow has evolved to include the original concept of SAO & .hack and SAO2 present similarities. Am I correct with this?
To my understanding Bandai wanted to make something like Everquest with CyberConnect. They decided a story would be best in its own right than jsut to make an MMO, so they converted the MMO idea into a story for an anime, then the PS2 game came out after the anime to compliment it and continue the story both in the game and the anime OVAs that came with the game to put closure on the anime
I am not really sure what the point of putting “2” on the second “season” of anything is these days because it is the same thing, SAO comtinued. Shippuden is still NAruto a few years later. Probably taken from the same plae it got the inspiratino for the time-skip of 2.5 years, DBZ which had all the GT, LAi, etc. and like how pokemon has segments set in various areas so you end up with Kanto region, episodes etc. Yugioh did different people with the same world idea, so Zexal, etc makes since to have a subtitle.
So to me, SAO and SAO II are the same thing, jsut takes time to get one season out, it isnt like it is a new sereis because it is still the same group of protagonists again like different episodes of Detective Conan where each week is a new crime for him to solve.
That being said it was ALWAYS, for my part, that SAO and SAOII were both being discussed in comparison to .hack.
Here is the timeline as I know it:
2000: Bandai wants to make a video game
2002: a light novel for SAO is written for a contest
2002: .hack//SIGN comes out as an anime by BONES(or BeeTrain) and Bandai, etc
2003~2004: .hack video games
2008: ASCII publishes SAO (The light novels began publication on ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki Bunko imprint from April 10, 2009)
I guess we would have to know how long it takes to make a single episode of an anime at the turn of the century, but i always knew about “some game” Bandai was trying to make long before I ever heard of SAO (last year). so to me they MIGHT be independent ideas, or like many other things someone finds a sandbox belonging to someone else to play in and they jump in and start playing and create SAO. We know that doujinshi are allowed and fan comics are a thing in Japan, so I would need some really BIG DAMN PROOF, that the 1st light novel for SAO wasn;t inspired by .hack or even Serial Experiments Lain for that matter.
Would need even bigger proof that SAO published or written for/after ASCII starting publishing it in dead-tree stock rather than online wasn’t inspired by .hack.
If you are writing about a MMO type game at the same time someone else is, I cannot believe you don’t see the news or ads for .hack while writing the 2nd light novel and fail to get influenced by it at all, even if just by its popularity and a theme that may have stuck into your head.
But SAO and .hack have the exact same themes.
SO how the hell is anyone going to tell me with ZERO proof that something made 7 years later wasn’t influenced by the last 7 years? Was the mangaka in a coma after trying for the ASCII prize on 2002?
The thing we don’t know is the date the contest opened to give the idea for SAO to be written for entry in 2002, nor the date Bandai decided to switch from an MMO to an anime, with a single-player game in its franchise. all we know is both SAO was written in 2002 and .hack//SIGN anime airs.
How long does it take to write for a contest? How long does it take to create a single episode of an anime? (or at least finish one since you can recycle parts for other episodes or work on several episodes at once.) How long before airing was there ads for the anime?
PS2 game was announced rather quickly after the first episode of the anime came out, this I know for certain, because it was held for the PS2 rather than releasing it for PS1 and they wanted to use the new technologies developed for the PS2 to make it better.
Just FYI, you’re putting more effort into your posts here than Reki Kawahara put into writing Sword Art Online. 
And I think it’s time to move on from this discussion of which came first.
Is crunchy going to do something about the immense number of viewers of sao2 causing crunchyroll to be unreliable for a time after each new ep debuts? I’d rather not deal with this for the rest of the session.
II Episode 3 –
spoiler
I can see why Asada is so traumatized and haunted, and why she’s so fearful of guns. But I also get the distinct feeling that the friend that is trying to help her is also this Death Gun guy. It was the way that the hand caressed her picture at the end of the episode that made me think of Shinkawa. But for Asada’s sake, I hope I’m wrong. Then again, that could also be a hint in the OP. Too obvious? We shall see!
II Episode 5 -
[details=spoiler]So, it turns out that Death Gun is another SAO survivor and Kirito knows him from the other game. But will Kirito be able to figure out who this is? Then he sees the mark on Death Gun’s wrist. Seeing the symbol for Laughing Coffin really upsets Kirito as he realizes what he’s up against.
Death Gun knows Kirito as well, as least by reputation, and whether he’s the real Kirito or a fake one, Death Gun vows to kill him. He leaves and Kirito’s past returns to haunt him as he remembers the outcome of a battle with Laughing Coffin. It’s not a pleasant memory and leaves Kirito shaking. It finally dawns on Kirito that the person that just threatened him was none other than Death Gun himself.
Kirito fights like a crazy man during his next few fights and makes it to the semifinals. It finally comes down to a final match between Kirito and Sinon. Sinon can’t bring herself to shoot Kirito and is insulted when Kirito doesn’t fight back. Kirito realizes his error and proposes a duel. Sinon is intrigued and accepts. Kirito wins and Sinon feels that they might have similar pasts. Kirito is declared the winner and Death Gun has his target. Perhaps he isn’t Shinkawa after all. Both he and Death Gun seemed to be in the same room at the same time. It will be fun trying to figure this out![/details]
Sword Art Online II’s Opening Shown in Original Animation Sketches
posted on 2014-08-21 15:10 EDT
Animator Tetsuya Takeuchi’s Kirito sketches unveiled
A-1 Pictures began streaming a video on Thursday with Tetsuya Takeuchi’s original animation sketches for one of the scenes in Sword Art Online II’s opening sequence. The video plays the scene once, and then again in slow motion.
Sword Art Online II adapts the third arc, Phantom Bullet, from Reki Kawahara’s original light novel series. The arc from the fifth and sixth novel volumes features the heroine Sinon and the protagonist Kirito. Crunchyroll and Daisuki are streaming the series as it airs in Japan.
I know this show has never really focused on any character outside of Kirito and his waifu, but at least it moved, thought too quickly for no reason. I think season 1 was jsut a bit to much interested in flashy moves and showing off how strong [strike]Goku[/strike] Kirito was within the game. Season 2 suffers from episode 3, which brings it all to a crashing halttraffic jam it already was. So in my insomnia last night and having nothing else new to watch I pushed through episode 11…
[details=spoiler]Episode 3 was a total waste since she retells her story in episodes 10 and 11 to kirito and the audience gets to see it them. It is even explained better in its very condensed form in the later episodes because it keeps you moving rather than just droning on. This means in large parts episode 2 wa also unneeded since it is mostly about her as well. Plenty of crotch shots from her avatar does not exactly make up for the lack luster episodes when the show is starting where you need people to keep interested. even the bits we see of the game don’t tell much about it, and in episodes 4~ we learn more about the game like we did in the beginning of Log Horizon. Episodes 2 should have been half as long, then episode 3 25% as long, and given a bit of episode 4 in there as the second episode to make much better pacing rather than the early filler to make the show drag on and caused me to stop watching it for months because of episode 3!
I say it is still pretty lackluster and just a fighting sim with pokemon style characters but if you skip episode 3 (which I did last night, then it works a LOT better for season 2. I am no more endeared to the characters than I was in season 1. because I saw a better story from .hack and it still looks like a clone of .hack to me; but without the love nonsense that is overplayed in season 1, season 2 is looking better, even though we all know where it will go as it has gone twice before.
Maybe if season 1 didn’t try to be a romance story to show the emotional turmoil of the people from one who was a loner to begin with, then it might have fared better. Definately not into shoot-em-up type MMOs, or any other really, but at least season 2 story does find a real place to begin in the 4th episode.[/details]
Just FMI, which season is meant by Season 2?
…seriously, there was nothing out there to watch besides a show you aren’t really a fan of? I could understand if it were dubbed but otherwise…
To my understanding the first 25 episodes were Season 1.
Nerv gear and SAO code was what kept Asuma or whatever her name is trapped as well as SAO personnel working on the newer fantasy game.
GGO is season 2.
I was hoping it would bore me to sleep honestly, but it didn’t. skipping episode 3 and just watching the other 10 did it a major service which kept it interesting. Had I watched episode 3 again i would have been to p!$$3d to sleep. was actually trying to find something boring that wouldnt draw my attention or annoy me and I failed because it turned out interesting. :laugh:
Had I tried watching Desolation of Tolkien again, that would have just made me mad too, and sadly I have never been able to find My Fair Lady on DVD to have been able to put in and play because 'enry 'iggins singing would have been able to put me to sleep.
IS the new episodes supposed to be season 2? I can never tell anymore because a “season” is only defined by whatever is being discussed at the time since some shows are only 10 episodes long, then those like One Piece are 600+ so don’t even really follow 13~26 episode seasons as in the seasons of the year. :unsure:
Maybe Coffee can tell us, but I think SAOII is supposed to be the second season?
The whole season thing is awkward as nowadays discussing “seasons” requires following when eps aired in Japan, the rule of thumb being that every 10-13 is a “season”. By that, Season 2 of SAO would be when Kirito was an elf in what Patrick Seitz reminds us was called “Alf-HAIM onLine” and Season 3 would be the one where Kirito has been genderbent and has a gun, but Season 3 has a “II” in the title which is just inconvenient. I miss the old days, when a season was a season to the masses and a “cour” was something that only the most die-hard of the fansub community cared about, and not a season, but simulcasting ended that 
After the second or third time I had to see that flick, I wish that I had that ability.
[quote]
Aniplex USA Adds Sword Art Online: Extra Edition, Silver Spoon 2 on Home Video
posted on 2014-09-27 14:30 EDT
Aniplex will release both sets in December
Aniplex of America announced at its Anime Weekend Atlanta panel on Saturday that it will release Sword Art Online: Extra Edition and the second season of Silver Spoon on home video.
Aniplex will release Sword Art Online: Extra Edition on Blu-ray and DVD on December 23. The set will include the original Japanese audio track with English subtitles and an English dub. Bonus materials include the “Sword Art Offline” special animation with English subtitles and Sword Art Online II trailers. It will be bundled with a booklet and exclusive poster. The Blu-ray will retail for US$59.98 and the DVD will retail for US$39.98. It will be available for purchase in the U.S., Canada, Central and South Americas.
The special streamed worldwide on January 1 following its Japanese premiere on December 31. Aniplex describes the story:
Kirito and the others decide to go on an underwater quest within the world of ALO to grant Yui her wish to see a whale. As they all prepare for the quest, they face a shocking revelation… Leafa, or Suguha is afraid of water. So, Asuna and the other female members decide to teach Suguha how to swim at a pool in the real world. Meanwhile, Kirito was meeting somebody…
Original light novelist Reki Kawahara took part in the writing of the two-hour special. Tomohiko Ito returned to direct at A-1 Pictures. The original light novel series’ illustrator abec gave the characters a full makeover, and character designer Shingo Adachi is adapted abec’s art for anime. The cast is also returned from the television anime. .[/quote]
So 60 bucks for what amounts to a single episode and they aren’t even dubbing all the content on the release? Another half-measure by AoA. I bet that I know at least one person who will be buying it though 
AoA releases a show on a costly, bare-bones sub-only DVD release. Why don’t they just go straight to the overpriced dubbed bluray, since such a release is inevitable?
I take it you haven’t actually sat down and watched it, or even bothered to look it up before complaining.
It’s not “what amounts to a single episode”, it’s 100 minutes long, so it amounts to a little over 4 episodes long and on BD for MSRP $60, or in this case Retail $50. Which is actually about on par with their normal pricing, if not a tad cheaper than normal for a new BD.
If I had the time machine that would be required for me to have watched this release, it would be a pretty safe bet that I wouldn’t use it to travel back and post on these forums about it. 
My admittedly second hand intel stated that this release contained only about an episode’s worth of new content as this release is rife with recap material. A perfunctory pre-posting search did not blow that out of the water.
Once again, their BD is rather pricey and is rather half-baked for a “luxury” good. For high prices, I expect higher quality and it astonishes me that so much of the fandom does not.
Aniplex averages about between, $12-15 Dollars an episode. so 100 min at around $50 is in their average pricing scheme. Not that I necessarily agree with their pricing scheme, but I will probably pick this up.
[size=16]Press Release: Aniplex of America to Release Sword Art Online -Extra Edition-[/size]
Sep 29th 2014
1 Like
Sword Art Online II Anime to Cover Calibur, Mother’s Rosary Arcs
posted on 2014-10-04 12:00 EDT
Haruka Tomatsu, LiSA to sing new theme songs this fall
Episode 14 of the Sword Art Online II anime ended with an announcement that the anime will begin the Calibur arc (pictured right) from Reki Kawahara’s original light novel series on October 18 on Tokyo MX and other stations, followed by the Mother’s Rosary (Mother’s Rosario, pictured below) arc on November 8. These arcs will use a new opening theme song by Haruka Tomatsu, as well as a new ending theme song by LiSA.
The Calibur arc (light novel volume 8) revolves around the quest for the legendary sword Excalibur. In the Mother’s Rosary arc (light novel volume 7), Asuna faces a duel against an secretive Avatar named Zekken for an Original Sword Skill.
A compilation episode, episode 14.5 “Debriefing,” will air next Saturday with a preview of footage from the Calibur arc.
Upcoming “Sword Art Online” Character Designs Previewed
October 09, 2014 5:01pm CDT
A look at upcoming anime arcs, plus the girls of spin-off Sword Art Online’s Gun Gale Online “Squad Jam”
Following the end of the Gun Gale Online focused “Phantom Bullet” arc, Sword Art Online II is geared up for “Calibur,” Sinon’s GGO postscript adventure in ALfheim Online, on October 18th, then the girls get the opportunity to shine in Mother’s Rosario on November 8th. Light novel illustrator abec’s designs for these stories have been previewed.
[details=Here, see Sinon in her Cait Sith ALfheim Online avatar and new character Yuuki from the Sleeping Knights guild, already cast as Yuuki Aoi for the Hollow Fragment game.]
[/details]
[details=Wonder what happens if someone pulls that tail…]
[details=And, on the illustrated prose front, from Sword Art Online’s Gun Gale Online “Squad Jam,” the spin-off/alternative by Kino’s Journey author Keiichi Sigsawa…]
